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Michigan Parole Law Unconstitutional

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Parole

Michigan Parole Law Unconstitutional by A federal district court in Michigan held that 1992 amendments to Michigan laws extending the time period between parole reviews violated the ex post facto clause of the US constitution. This case consists of a class action suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 filed by …

Denial of Bed Linen States Claim

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Exposure to Cold, Bedding

Denial of Bed Linen States Claim by A federal district court in New York held that denying a prisoner blankets and bed linen while in segregation stated a claim for an eighth amendment violation. Keith Macguire, a New York state prisoner, filed suit claiming he was subjected to verbal abuse …

Bad Apples in Florida DOC

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Sexual Assault, Staff-Prisoner Assault, Guard Misconduct, Staffing

Bad Apples in Florida DOC by Kenneth Smith, fired from four separate Florida prisons, exemplifies a problem the Florida DOC has: keeping "bad apples" out of the barrel. Smith was fired from prisons for repeatedly violating prison rules, drunken driving, and a criminal conviction for resisting arrest, yet always managed …

State Murder Machine Picks Up

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

State Murder Machine Picks Up by State Murder Machine Picks Up Speed Fifty-six people were executed by sixteen states in 1995. That was the highest national figure since 1957. As usual, Texas led the nation with 19 executions in 1995. Since the supreme court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, …

VitaPro Fraud Scheme Unveiled in Texas

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, DOC/BOP misconduct, Prison Industries, Food

VitaPro Fraud Scheme Unveiled in Texas by Texas state prison officials have asked a judge to nullify an agreement to purchase $33.6 million worth of VitaPro, a soy-based food product, saying the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) had no authority to sign such a contract. Under the deal between …

Prison Rape Opponents Sue to Protect Award-Winning Web Site from Internet Censors

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Sexual Assault, Prisoner-Prisoner Assault, Computers, Censorship

Prison Rape Opponents Sue to Protect Award-Winning Web Site from Internet Censors by Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc., a nationally organized group dedicated to fighting against the rape of incarcerated persons of all genders and ages, joined the American Civil Liberties Union and 19 other plaintiffs today (Feb. 7, 1996) in …

Jail Guards' Convictions Affirmed

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Jail Guards' Convictions Affirmed by On November 29, 1995, the US court of appeals for the sixth circuit issued a ruling affirming the federal conviction of three jail guards for violating prisoners' civil rights. Ulysses Tines, Glynn Bridgeforth and Belinda Marshall were guards employed at the Shelby County jail in …

Criminal Conviction Inadmissible Evidence

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Witnesses

Criminal Conviction Inadmissible Evidence by A federal district court in Pennsylvania ruled in favor of a prisoner's motion in limine to prevent prison officials from introducing evidence about his criminal history to impeach his testimony. This ruling will prove useful to any prisoner litigating a civil rights claim as all …

Arizona Death Row Chain Gang Problems

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Prison Labor, Chain Gangs, Failure to Protect (General), Excessive Force, Shootings, Death Row

Arizona Death Row Chain Gang Problems by In December, 1995, Arizona's governor Fife Symington launched a program placing death row prisoners on a chain gang working in the prison's vegetable garden [Reported in the March '96 issue of PLN]. According to an Arizona newspaper report there have been two violent …

Texas Prison Developer Arrested in Escape Plot

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, Guard Misconduct, Escapes

Texas Prison Developer Arrested in Escape Plot by A private prison developer with business ties to a former Texas state prison director was arrested in January and charged with plotting to help a convicted murderer escape from prison for a $750,000 fee. Patrick Harold Graham - using the alias Harold …

Sexual Assault During Search Illegal

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Sexual Harassment, Staff-Prisoner Harassment, Strip Searches, Strip Cells

Sexual Assault During Search Illegal by The court of appeals for the eighth circuit held that a guard who sexually harasses and assaults a prisoner during a strip search violates the fourth amendment. The court rejected the guard's defense that he was not a "state actor" for § 1983 purposes …

Attorney Fee Award Upheld in Jail Suit

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services, Religious Property

Attorney Fee Award Upheld in Jail Suit by The court of appeals for the ninth circuit has upheld an award of attorney fees to the plaintiffs in a jail religious discrimination suit who did not win in court but who caused jail policies to be changed. The court also held …

Citizen Anti-Crime Initiatives? How the Gun Lobby Bankrolls the War on Crime

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Voting, Crime, Sentencing, Three Strikes, State Legislation

Citizen Anti-Crime Initiatives? How the Gun Lobby Bankrolls the War on Crime by Paul Wright Recent years have seen a plethora of so called anti-crime initiatives placed on various state ballots, the most famous being the "Three Strikes You're Out" type laws. These initiatives purport to be efforts by state …

Pennsylvania Prison Stormed

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Searches, Prison/Common Area Searches

Pennsylvania Prison Stormed by S T Last October, in the dead of night, Graterford Correctional Institution (GCI) prisoners were subjected without notice to an unprovoked assault by storm troops dressed in black, booted, many helmeted and all carrying clubs. [See: PLN, Dec '95] All GCI prisoners, suddenly awakened, were strip-searched, …

Retaliation Claims Survive Sandin, but PI Reversed

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Transfers, Retaliation for Media Contact, Retaliatory Transfers, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Qualified Immunity, Media, Access to Media

Retaliation Claims Survive Sandin, but PI Reversed by The court of appeals for the ninth circuit has held that prisoner retaliation claims have survived the supreme court ruling in Sandin but that prisoners bear a heavy burden when seeking a preliminary injunction (PI) on a retaliation claim. In the December, …

Stunned in Pennsylvania

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Excessive Force, Stun Guns/Tasers

Stunned in Pennsylvania by Michael Crooker I am getting ready to file a tort claim lawsuit against the government for personal injury due to the reckless use of explosive bombs, AKA "Stun-Grenades" [against prisoners at FCI-McKean]. Does anyone know anything about these [stun-grenades] or can direct me to a case …

More Trouble in Texas Rent-A-Jails

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Private Prisons, Prison Rebellion, Escapes

More Trouble in Texas Rent-A-Jails by Bryon W, Ferguson by Bryon W. Ferguson Hawaii prisoner Larry Earl Pagan decided he'd had enough of Texas hospitality. Pagan, shanghaied from a Hawaii state prison [See: "Kidnapping and Extortion Texas Style" in the Feb '96 PLN], escaped in February from the Newton County …

Spain and Belgium Abolish the Death Penalty

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Prisoners-International, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Spain and Belgium Abolish the Death Penalty by As the U.S. increases the number of people it murders each year the trend in favor of state-sanctioned murder is ebbing elsewhere. Fifty-five countries around the world have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, fifteen others have abolished it for social …

News in Brief

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: News, News in Brief

News in Brief by Greece: After a 12 day uprising at a 150-man maximum security prison in Corfu, 44 prisoners escaped by digging out of the prison on March 9, 1996. Sixteen were recaptured within a few hours of the escape. The uprising was part of a protest by Greek …

Texas Grooming Code May Violate RFRA

Article • May 15, 1996 • from PLN May, 1996

Filed under: Grooming Rules, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Religious Freedom, Religious Grooming

Texas Grooming Code May Violate RFRA by The court of appeals for the fifth circuit held that a district court erred in dismissing a Texas prisoner's claim that prison grooming regulations, requiring that prisoners be clean shaven and have short hair, violated his rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act …